Most societies have created facilities or repositories such as cemeteries and mausoleums for interring the bodily or cremated remains of persons after death. Remains are often kept in openable chambers set into vertical support walls. Larger chambers, often called crypts are dimensioned to inter bodily remains, while smaller chambers, often called niches are sized to inter cremated remains. To save space, the chambers are often rectangular and arranged in row and column fashion along a single vertical wall. The chamber openings are typically covered by a rectangular block or slab. It is fashionable to use heavy, ornate, rock-based materials such as marble, granite or slate for the slabs.
Because a particular slab must occasionally be removed in order to access or add to the contents of a chamber, the slab is releasably hung or attached over the opening to the chamber using a plurality of slab fasteners.
Various slab fasteners have been developed. One popular approach is described in Gallo, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,169 utilizing horizontal shelving plates for supporting the weight of the slab while a four removable screw-based rosettes placed at the corners prevent forward movement of the slab. This approach offers some disadvantages including wear or discoloration of the visible forward face of the slab surrounding the rosette. Further, removal of the screw-based rosettes is time-consuming. Since a single rosette can fasten the corners of four corner-adjacent slabs, removal of a rosette can cause an unwanted disruption of the fastening of adjacent slabs.
A move toward hidden means for attachment has been gathering popularity. This allows the outer face of the slab to remain unencumbered or potentially damaged by visible attachment means. One example, disclosed in Hala, U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,989 has a laterally adjustable disc-shaped stone anchor which engages lateral slots machined into the sides of the slab. This design suffers from the problematic securing of closely adjacent slabs, and the penetrative machining of the slots. Another example, disclosed in Hu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,690 uses rearwardly extending resilient prongs secured to the back of the slab which releasably penetrate holes in a receptor set into the forward face of the support wall. This design suffers from likely inadequate support for heavier slabs, precise placement of the prongs, and awkward removal.
The invention results from an attempt to develop a hidden slab fastener which reduces or avoids the above identified disadvantages.